SMB IT | Curtis Franklin » March 2008

March 25, 2008

Sun's moves in the SMB space

TAGS: SMB Hardware, SMB Vendor Strategy

Late last week I had an interesting conversation with Christine Buery of Sun Microsystems. Christine is heading up the new Sun initiatives in the SMB market, and we talked about a number of things that should interest IT folks in certain parts of SMB-land. It starts with how Sun views the SMB market, and ends with how the company is moving product to smaller organizations.

One of the things that interests me whenever I talk to a vendor is exactly how they define "SMB". Christine's answer was one I've heard often, but with a twist: She said that SMB, in Sun's language, is a company with fewer than 1,000 employees. That's not unusual. The uncommon part is the qualifier Sun adds -- companies with fewer than 1,000 employees and a high need for I.T. differentiation. This means, ultimately, companies with compute needs far in excess of what their headcount would indicate. What sort of companies qualify for this classification? Think Web 2.0 companies (Craigslist was mentioned several times), engineering firms, or technical-industry consultancies. The big point -- if you're looking for a white-box server to handle basic back-office tasks for your small business, then Sun is probably not the right answer. If, on the other hand, you're looking to host the next big software as a service commercial offering, then you might well be in the Sun target market.

Buery talked about Sun's partnerships with AMD, Intel, and Microsoft, and the acquisition of MySQL as key ingredients in Sun's progress toward the SMB market. She then went on to explain that Sun has revamped its sales channel, adding partners like CDW to make it easier to buy Sun products -- Buery referred to the concept of "flexibility of acquisition" more than once to indicate that the company understand why a small, tech-savvy firm might not want (or need) to get all their hardware through a traditional VAR.

The question is, though, why would Sun systems be attractive to a small business, even one that meets the qualifications set by the vendor? The answer in a nutshell is flexibility. Sun hardware offers the possibility of migrating from Windows Server to Linux to Solaris without changing your physical system. I know a lot of small business IT folks who would scoff at the possibility of moving up -- who could need more than Linux? -- but the fact is that an operating system like Solaris offers security and manageability in forms that are easier to work with than those found in Linux (or, for that matter, any of the Windows operating systems).

Before we finished the phone call, Buery said something that echoed a theme I've been hearing for a couple of years now: SMB IT concerns are no longer substantially different than those of larger enterprises. There are differences in scale, but not in essential needs or problems. This recognition is good for small business IT folks, because it means that vendors are increasingly open to smaller organizations joining their previously-closed enterprise list. It's good to see Sun taking steps in this direction -- and it will be good to see other enterprise IT vendors moving along the SMB path.

Posted by Curt Franklin on March 25, 2008 05:54 PM

March 13, 2008

SMB IT on the road

TAGS: Mobile SMB

One of the things I've noticed about small businesses is that we're on the move almost all the time. Whether we're making sales presentations, doing on-site work, or heading out to meet with vendors or clients, a lot of us are traveling. The hard part is continuing to do business while we travel. Fortunately, the tools are getting better, and the understanding that "the office" is wherever we are (not where our desk sits) is becoming more common.

I'm on the road this week, and I've been using some of the tools that I've written about in the past. Here are some notes (in no particular order) on some of the tools I've been using:

Google's GrandCentral is a nifty service, but I'm still getting the hang of it. Right now, I have two numbers enrolled, and I really like the fact that I can give someone my GrandCentral number and get the call on my cell phone without having to hand out my cell phone number. I also really like the way the voice-mail works, with notice of new messages e-mailed to me, visual listing of the e-mail (take that, iPhone!) and the ability to listen on my computer or a phone. I'm still trying to get used to having several layers of stacked voice mail, and I'm working on testing the setup for stacked calls -- but on the whole, it's a very good concept that's been executed well.

Speaking of Google, I find that I'm using Google Docs for collaboration a bit more than I thought I might. If there are just two folks, sending files back and forth works just fine, but once you get to three people working together the Google Docs system is quite fine. I'm sure that I need to wring more out of this, and I'll let you know when I've figured out some of the other tricks.

Have you followed the story of TSA and the Macbook Air? It seems that a small number of security folks didn't believe it was a real computer, and since they apparently don't own televisions, they hadn't seen one of the ads. What's the take-away? If you're traveling with the latest and greatest technology (especially if it really breaks new ground in form-factor or weight), take a copy of the receipt and, if possible, an ad for the device with you. Yes, it's a pain in the rear and, no, you shouldn't have to do something like this. If it helps you catch the critical flight, though, it's worth a couple of sheets of paper -- and you can make that angry call to your congresscritter once you're back on the ground. The same suggestion, by the way, applies to Li-Ion batteries that you want to carry on: If the vendor gives you the info showing that the battery falls within the guidelines, copy it and stick the paper in your carry-on bag. It could mean the difference between arriving with your batteries or not.

That's it for now...business calls. Let me know which tools help you when you're on the road -- I'd like to know the tools, tips, and techniques that keep your small business running while you're running for that next appointment.

Curt

Posted by Curt Franklin on March 13, 2008 06:44 PM